Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) is delighted to announce the appointment of Kasi Valu as the Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence for 2026.
Kasi will use the residency to develop a collection of poems, spoken-word pieces, and short stories with the working title Frangipani Thorns.
Audiences may encounter historical reflections, social media discourse, political satire, community gossip, and speculative futures. Kasi also plans to make audio recordings of the pieces. “I imagine Frangipani Thorns as a digital constellation of portals. Like a web browser with multiple tabs open at once, each piece offers a different entry point into the world,” he says.
Born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Kasi trained as an actor at Te kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa, gaining a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts (2022). His theatre career has involved working in a variety of roles including acting, writing, stage managing, and producing. He has performed at slam poetry events and at the Auckland Writers Festival. He won the E Tū Whānau Spoken Word Competition in 2021 and received a Fale-ship Residency from the Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust.
Kasi says of the residency, “I’m deeply grateful and humbled to follow the writers before me. I also feel privileged, especially now, when residencies for artists across Aotearoa are becoming scarcer. Such opportunities are integral to the development needed for any writer or artist at any phase of their life or career.
“The best way to describe this moment in time is that I feel like Britney Spears, belting out ‘Lucky’ into my sister’s mangled $2.00 shop brush, wearing my mother’s church heels, lips smeared with my auntie’s Maybelline lipstick after my sister gave me a hiding for breaking her new Christmas toy.”
Kasi will receive a stipend of $15,000 to write his new work at the IIML for three months. He will also work with a mentor during the residency.
Damien Wilkins, Director of the IIML, says, “We’re excited to see Kasi’s work develop. The selection panel was impressed by the fearlessness and energy of his writing. We’re also very appreciative of the support of the University and Creative New Zealand.”
